Value Creation by the Sharing Economy in the Post-industrial Society

Over a short historical time, the sharing economy has become one of the key options for sustainable growth. Historically, economic exchange has always been a driver of societal development and, at the same time, evolved in itself by taking one new form after another. The new form of exchange discussed herein—collaborative use in a digital environment—has not been fully analysed in value terms so far, since it encompasses three components: social approval, economic (benefit-based) choice, and digital coordination. This chapter contains the author’s analysis of the theoretical concepts of the sharing economy, and accordingly sets forth key assumptions therein, by identifying several types of new methods for revenue generation and redistribution. The approach proposed takes into account the contradictions between saving and consumption, which also affect economic choice. A model is presented for evaluating the lower limit of the value to be created, on the assumption that social approval shifts the choice line rather than creates a new value. The proposed model takes into consideration the impact of recurrent access to the service already provided for the consumer. As collaborative consumption develops on the basis of consumer signals in the form of social approval, this chapter shows that it is possible to create a two- or three-stage model in order to evaluate the value to be created: the receipt of a signal from a social community (an initiative or testing), the creation of a business model, and evaluation as to whether shared use by end consumers is beneficial (the lower limit).